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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Orfew, post: 3605816, member: 74968&quot;]What a thoughtful and engaging post. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to this topic with such an interesting analysis. There is much in what you say. I believe that the current commercial focus of universities has driven out many as myself who would associate themselves with the figure of the Curiosus. When I began university I just wanted to learn. I started with a degree in English literature. This experience taught me to organize my thoughts, to analyse material, and to write in a critical way. This degree was perfect for the curiosus. It was truly about the roots of philosophy as the &quot;love of wisdom&quot;. This is not a love of knowledge at all, but instead a desire to seek out interesting and important ideas that address the questions &quot;who are we&quot; and &quot;Why are we&quot;. I cannot tell you how many years of enjoyment I received from digging in to the poetry of Keats or the wild raucous humour of Chaucer. What an absolute revelation it was to read sonnets like &quot;When I have fears&quot; or to laugh along with Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales. Why are these important? They are so because they tell a small piece of the story of humanity.</p><p><br /></p><p>When I look at the university today I see the humanities being cut and disparaged. Many people complain that universities do not prepare you for a job. In many ways universities have become diploma mills. This is a backwards way of thinking in my opinion. Instead of serving the needs of humanity to understand itself the university serves the base needs of a culture that is not interested in self examination, but only in the proliferation of canned and utilitarian information. This is unfortunately self defeating. If the university does not critically examine the purpose behind the education they deliver, how can it be expected that the students who graduate will be able to do so?</p><p><br /></p><p>Too often the university lives in fear of its lack of relevance to the modern world. This fear drives it in panic to serve the needs of the general population. This is a problem. What should the university serve the general needs? I see way too many programs added to the curricula whose aim is to attract students and therefore revenue. Let us also not forget the pernicious nature of some faculty whose purpose is not to examine wisdom and find better questions, but is instead to build their career with no thought as to the sacred trust that should exist between faculty and students.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, not all is lost. There are still those among us who believe that our mission is to prod, disturb, upset entrenched ideas, and to install this intellectual trouble making in our students. A friend of mine who taught languages for over 30 years said this to me: When students come to university they want to buy a pair of shoes. The thoughtful educator provides the leather the laces and the soles and says &quot;Make your own shoes&quot;. In other words it should be about independent thought and action and not about parroting the notions one learns in class. However, today society is not interested in independent thought but is instead obsessed with conformity instead. In my view universities should be examining this conformity and criticizing it instead of perpetuating it.</p><p><br /></p><p>A friend of mine summed it up very well. He said that studying in a university should be about &quot;learning while wandering around&quot;. I love this, and it perfectly expresses my ideals. Rather than a straight line between any piece of information and a conclusion, or between a degree and a job we should embrace intellectual wandering. there is a good reason for this. Intellectual wandering has led us many important discoveries affecting the human race.</p><p><br /></p><p>For many years I attended a lunch group with colleagues from many different backgrounds and disciplines. People came and went but there was always a core group. These were profs from the arts, business, sciences, and other faculties. It was a true pleasure to get together with these people. These were not high ego people slavishly tied to their career progression, but instead were all thoughtful individuals who loved learning and lived this every day.The conversations were fascinating and generated many original ideas. These people perfectly fulfill the role of the Curioso. </p><p><br /></p><p>While there are some serious problems with the university, I do not believe the failure to prepare students for jobs is one of them. In fact I think that the focus on jobs robs us of intellectual curiosity and forces us all to fit a mold rather than to examine the purpose of the mold in the first place. Conformity to human needs such as employment have dimmed the purpose of a university. There are other important needs and one of these is critical self examination. Are universities perfect? No, not at all. However, as long as the universities contain curious people there is still hope.</p><p><br /></p><p>My sincere thanks to [USER=93416]@EWC3[/USER] for the stimulating and challenging post.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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